HBO Renews Last Week Tonight Through To 2020

HBO has renewed Last Week Tonight with John Oliver through to 2020. Befitting America’s current political turmoil and division, there has probably never been more options available for those seeking to get their fix of politics-based comedy. For over a decade, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart served as the standard bearer of comedic news coverage, a title current host Trevor Noah is doing his best to live up to. It’s fitting though that several veterans of Stewart’s Daily Show run have since branched out into their own, solo shows.

One such former Daily Show regular to now anchor their own series is British comic John Oliver, who now hosts HBO’s weekly current events comedy series Last Week Tonight. Oliver was a popular correspondent on The Daily Show from 2006-2013, but it was actually Stewart’s decision to go direct a film that led to Oliver finally getting his big push into solo stardom. While Stewart was occupied, Oliver hosted The Daily Show for several weeks and impressed both fans and critics with how fast he took to the hosting desk.

Oliver’s well-received hosting stint led many fans to believe that he would eventually succeed Stewart as The Daily Show host – but before Stewart eventually stepped down, Oliver was lured away by HBO.Last Week Tonight debuted in 2014, and has been racking up awards and critical raves ever since. In an unsurprising move, Deadline reports that HBO has today opted to renew Last Week Tonight for three additional seasons, guaranteeing that Oliver will be cracking wise about politics and odd world events until at least 2020.

Similar to past seasons, the upcoming seasons of Last Week Tonight will each consist of 30 episodes, with Oliver taking a few months-long breaks during each calendar year. This mostly mirrors the schedule of fellow HBO political comedy series Real Time with Bill Maher, as the two shows often take breaks at the same time.

Oliver and the rest of the Last Week Tonight crew have a big night coming up soon, with the show being nominated for eight Emmy Awards at this year’s ceremony. This follows Last Week Tonight winning three Emmys last year and Oliver himself winning a prestigious Peabody Award in 2015. Whatever one thinks of Oliver’s particular brand of political humor, it’s now safe to say that he’ll be amusing those who do love him for the foreseeable future.